As I sit down to write this final editor’s note of the year, the first rumblings of thunder are rolling across the sky and that unmistakable scent of rain is in the air. In much of our region, this is the time when the bush shakes off its dusty winter coat and turns a lush, hopeful green. It feels like the right moment to pause, exhale, and look back on the journeys we’ve taken together this year – and the ones still calling us.

Travel has a way of marking time differently. We remember years not only by dates and deadlines, but by road trips, flight paths and the places that changed us. Maybe, for you, it was the first game drive where you sat in complete silence as elephants moved ghostlike through the mopane. Or a long, sun-struck drive where the only soundtrack was old music and laughter from the back seat. Perhaps it was simply rediscovering a destination you thought you already knew.

In this issue, we lean into that sense of movement, transformation and renewal.

We follow the bush as it shifts from the dry, sculpted tones of winter to the generous greens of the rains in our Dry to Green Season feature – a reminder that every landscape has more than one personality, and every return visit offers a new story. Our Safari Packing Essentials guide is for those of you already counting down the days to your next escape, making sure that what you toss into your bag is both practical and considered (and still leaves room for a book and a bit of indulgence).

We spend time at some very special places: the wild elegance of...